Too Late To Save
by xXx LoverGirl xXx
Summary: Arnold comes home from his trip to South America to see and not see somethings have changed. If you don't understand half way through why I'm writing this, finish the story and then you will know why.


"_Hey Arnold, Hey Arnold, Hey Arnold, Hey Arnold…" _His alarm clock shouted at the sleepy teenager. Arnold unplugged his alarm clock with a cord that was attached to a potato. He rubbed his eyes yawned and stretched his arms out wide.

Arnold smiled to himself as he brushed his teeth, got his clothes on and stared off into space as he ate which almost made him miss his bus. "Today is the day." He told himself on the way to the bus stop.

Gerald was already there, when Arnold got there and Gerald decided to just start talking. "Alright so let me get this straight, today for sure, no backing out. You're going to ask Helga G. Pataki to prom?"

"That's right Gerald."

"But do you guys have to pursue a relationship so soon? You got back not too long ago."

"That's the point Gerald, I've waited too long I don't want to just let her go, now that I'm back to stay for final this time."

"Man I understand if you truly care about her then I have no right to say anything. But be careful, Helga has been a little uptight and short fused lately."

"You're right she has been, I'm a little worried Gerald." Arnold began walking up the steps on the bus, dropped in a dollar and a quarter. He made way over to his seat and Gerald sat next to him.

Gerald pulled out his headphones to his MP3 player and began to dance in his chair to the catchy tune playing his ears. Arnold stared out the window and thought about what Gerald had said. Helga didn't take their bus due to the changes of bus routes in High School, so Arnold would have to wait to talk to her.

Arnold knew Helga to be completely opposite to what she used to be like. She had a kind heart that understood others to be who they are and encouraged them to never change. To be confident and sure whom she was no matter what. Who was extremely talented and knew it but when it came to creative writing remained silent on the subject.

Arnold once found Helga's pink poem journal and didn't find out till later she had written them. By the time Arnold realized he cared for Helga the way she did for him they were eleven. They dated for half a year; this was around the time his parents were in South America packing for the second last time. Promising they would come back and stay back for good this time.

In January on Arnolds birthday he receive a letter from his parents stating they couldn't' return. Before Arnold could be mad once more for their unbelievable letter he read the rest of the letter inquiring for him to go live with them until this problem was solved.

It was a tough decision Arnold had to make, but ultimately he chose being with his parents was the best idea. He told Helga that he was going to live with his parents, and she didn't take it lightly. All that Arnold remembers of that fight was the anger filled words and them breaking up. He stormed off one-way and she the other.

He lived in the jungle for seven years, he had just recently returned with his parents. For final this time, it was around his eighteenth birthday. The first person he was hoping to see was Helga; she wasn't the first but one of them.

His grandparents at the old boarding house hosted his birthday party. All his old friends were there, it was strange to see because every time he thought of them, he could only see their younger faces. Everyone was well grown up; the one person he was looking for had changed the most.

Helga was wearing a white tank top with a long pink heart shaped necklace. No monobrow, no pigtails. Her hair was down, wavy and her bangs were parted from the right side of her face to her left, covering her left eye. She wore red skinny jeans and white with pink stripped sneakers. She looked out standing and quite the lady now.

Arnold was about to go talk to her when he saw Sid coming over to Helga with a drink and grabbed her waist close to him. Arnold felt numb and decided to not go see either of them across the room.

Arnold in rolled in school a week later. While he was in South America his parents home schooled him. When he applied to be enrolled in High School he had to take an entrance exam to see what grade level he needed to be placed in. Arnold did so well the teacher in charge advised the principle to give Arnold his diploma right away.

However Arnold protested because he wanted to graduate with all of his friends at the end of this semester. So they gave Arnold whatever course he wanted to talk since he didn't need any of them anyway. He chose to be in English, Spanish, Art and Astronomy.

Two months after the party, Arnold was feeling pretty down still. He couldn't stand seeing Sid with her. One day Helga and Sid stopped sitting together. Stopped talking to each other even stopped looking at each other. Arnold became angry with himself for being happy the two had split up. After a week or so Helga was back into a good mood, Helga was nicer and sweeter than when she was younger. Sid continued to be down for the next couple of weeks, Arnold tried to talk to him but Sid wouldn't even look at him.

After a month and a half Sid came to Arnold during lunchtime and asked if they could talk in private. Arnold agreed and they left. When they were outside Sid explained to Arnold the reason why Helga and Sid broke up was because of Arnold. That Helga still loved Arnold and could not love Sid the way he wanted her to because of it. He told Arnold that if he in someway hurt Helga he would never forgive him. Sid wished him the best and walked away with his head down.

Arnold stood there in shock, couldn't believe what he heard. He wanted to jump up and down, but he kept cool about it and just walked back inside. Arnold told Gerald because Gerald already knew about Arnolds love for Helga and also was in disbelief.

After two weeks of Arnold fighting with his thoughts and arguing with himself he decided he was going to ask her to prom. He told Gerald over the phone the night before that he was going to tell Helga he loved her and ask her to prom. Gerald didn't know what to say but just said he was unsure and ultimately in the end agreed with Arnold.

But lately Helga has been different, for about a week now she has started to revert back to herself. Yelling at others around her, pushing people and even began hitting brainy. Arnold began to worry as he sat there on the bus, why did Helga start doing this again. Was something wrong? Was it something he did? How could he fix this?

Arnold's thoughts began to run wild; he tried to distract himself by other things around him. He began to look around the bus at other students; thinking observing others would change his mind.

There were not many kids on his bus that he knew personally. A few he had just met recently and some he just saw around. PHS 105 was a fairly big school for a city that was full of poverty. Students from PS. 115, 116, 117, 118, 119 and 120 all came together in this local school PHS 105. PHS 105 was the last high school in this area to be built so it was newer and nicer.

Other than Gerald being a kid he knew; there was Joey, Sid and Rhonda. Arnold was surprised at first that he would be sharing the bus with Rhonda since she was suppose to be living with her rich parents just outside town. So out of curiosity Arnold asked Gerald why Rhonda would be taking their bus. Gerald just shrugged and said, "I dunno."

That was about two months ago, but the thought was really starting to bug him as he sat there thinking about it. Although they were close to school Arnold wanted to finally understand.

"Gerald, I'm going to sit by Rhonda alright?" Gerald nodded his head and let his friend pass by. Arnold moved up the aisle passing two rows of seats and stopped next to Rhonda's. She was looking out the window; lost in some other world she didn't even notice Arnold being there.

"Can I sit here?" Rhonda's eyes opened fully as if she had just woken up. She turned to see who had spoken to her and looked confused and shocked at Arnold standing there. She nodded her head in agreement and he sat down.

Rhonda went back to looking out the window and once again went into another world. Arnold didn't want to pry but he also wanted to know what was up.

"Hey Rhonda."

"Hi Arnold" Rhonda replied, she didn't move her attention away from the window though, her arm rested on the window seal and her head rested on her hand.

"How are you?"

"I'm okay, thanks."

"Why are you sitting alone?"

"Cause I want to."

"Are you not lonely?"

Rhonda's eyes opened widely again at the question, she opened her mouth to say something but hesitated. Her bottom lip began to quiver; she closed her mouth for a second to stop herself letting out a wale of sadness. She didn't say anything for a minute, when she finally got the courage she stood up because they were now at school and answered, "Sometimes. Excuse me."

She passed by Arnold and walked off the bus. Gerald walked up beside Arnold and they walked off the bus together. Arnold was distracted by the way Rhonda had responded, but changed thoughts back to Helga once he saw the school banner above him.

Arnold walked inside with Gerald next to him. High-fived Stinky as Stinky joined them, greeted Herald as they walked by him. Gerald winked at Phoebe as he walked by her and she returned his small gesture of flirting with a giggle.

Arnold however was searching the halls for no one but Helga he wanted to do it first thing before he got the chance to back down. His eyes scanned the halls as he passed each corridor. He could not spot her anywhere, and he began to worry. His thoughts began to make up random scenarios that made no sense to even him, but yet he believed that was a possibility.

Arnold realized he no longer had anyone else with him, due to his locker being on the second floor and his friends on the first. He was now walking up the stairs trying to not trip over every step out of nervousness. The lockers everyone was assigned in ninth grade were the ones they stuck with all through high school. But since he had just recently transferred, he got the locker right next door to his first period class English.

Even though Arnold could not see Helga before class he knew he would see her in his English class. Lila, Rhonda, Joey, Sid, Stinky, Curly, Herald and Helga were the only kids he knew in his first person. In the class there was a total of twenty-seven students.

Arnold arrived at his locker, put his things inside. He stopped for a second, closed his eyes and yelled "Shut Up!" to his nerves that were driving him wild. He breathed in from his nose deeply and released his breath from his mouth slowly.

Arnold then continued to gather his things quickly before class would start. He closed his locker door and locked it with his lock. He was about to walk to his left towards his classroom when someone standing in his way stopped him immediately. It was Sid.

"Hey Sid."

"Arnold."

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"Well what can I do for you?"

"Stay away from Helga."

"Huh?" The statement seemed to have caught Arnold off guard, he wasn't sure if he should understand or be just plain annoyed. He stared at Sid for a few seconds out of shock. "_Who does he think he is?_"

"You heard me Arnold, stay away from her. She's too good for you."

"Listen Sid you don't have the right to decide that for her."

"Maybe so, but I know her and I know you. She's too good for you. You better stay away from her or I'm going to do something about it."

"Don't tell me what to do Sid, it's none of your business what I do or what she does. If you really knew her like you say you do, you would know she wouldn't like you talking to me like this."

Sid grew angrier with this, and he stepped closer to Arnold. Arnold didn't move a muscle and let Sid get close to him. Sid used his index finger to poke at Arnold's chest.

"Arnold you better watch it, I'm not so forgiving for people like you. You better watch your back because I'm coming for you."

Arnold rolled his eyes and Sid stormed inside of Arnold's first period English class. "_What the heck was that all about?_" Disoriented Arnold walked slowly into his first period classroom. Everyone was already there, including his love, Helga.

Instead of a Helga smiling she was instead yelling at Lila while standing over her. Arnold moved into the room, Helga didn't notice him being there but everyone else did. The teacher, Rhonda who was standing by the door, with her bag over her shoulder, Sid who was leaning on the second chalkboard shelves; and everyone else. They all watched as Arnold put his things on his desk and made his way over to Helga.

"Listen Miss. Perfect, I asked you last night if you could do one simple thing for me. But apparently that was too hard for someone so dainty and dimwitted as you."

Lila looked down, she began to cry a little. Arnold could see the sadness on Lila as he stood next to both of them now. "_Why is Helga being like this?_"

"Helga."

"What?" Helga snapped back, she turned around to see who had just said her name. Her face lightens for a moment when she realized it was Arnold. That didn't last long however, her face changed back to anger again. But now that Arnold was close to her he could see the sadness in her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, why do you care." Helga crossed her arms.

"Well you're starting a ruckus in class, and I've noticed for about a week now you've been upset what's going on?"

"It's none of your business hair boy."

The door being shut was heard

"Maybe so but I want to know if I can help you in anyway."

"Why don't you just leave me alone? You can't help me."

Arnold was going to reply but then a loud sound was heard. Bang. The sound was loud it made everyone's ears ring; everyone covered their ears, except Helga. Helga instead was holding her chest to cover something. A few sounds started return to their ringing ears. They could hear the screams of girls and boys in the halls.

Blood started to pour out through her hands and stain her white tank top. Arnold grabbed her because she was falling forward and he was holding all her weight.

"Helga no!"

Arnold looked over to his left where the screaming came from. Sid was running towards them with tears, pushing all the desks out of the way to get him there. Arnold's shirt started to get stained with blood and her fell down to the ground, with Helga lying on his lap; he was holding her head. He looked up to where the sound came from.

The gun was a small pistol, which explained the loud sound that had echoed. The hand that held the gun was shaking, the person was scared and nervous. Arnold looked at the face of the murderer.

It was Rhonda.

Her face was filled with angry and fury. Her deep hazel eyes were filled with fear and sadness, they were cold. The shallow breathing below him made him look down.

Other kids in the classroom were crying and moaning of fear. A face that had now looked pale was drained from all future, all happiness, Helga's face. She looked at Arnold and said, "Arnold… I… love… you…"

Bang.

Arnold's tears were now falling on Helga's face and into her hair. Helga's body was starting to turn cold and Arnold began to shake, she was leaving him. "_Please, don't leave me!"_

Another bang.

"I love you too Helga, I have since we were nine. Maybe I've loved you longer."

"I..'ve lov…ed yo…u sin…c…ce wee wer..re four. Go..od..b…ye my..y swe…et Ar…no…ld."

With that Helga took her last breath. Her whole life summed up in a few small words. Arnold was waling loudly now while holding the head of his dead beloved. He was shaking all over and could feel the energy of her lifeless body be drained between her fingers.

Bang. Bang. Bang. It stopped.

Arnold looked up through his tears at the killer that was before them. Around him lied pools of blood on the floor with lifeless bodies lying in them. Arnold's hands, pants and shirt was stained from Helga's blood that poured from her back.

Rhonda stood there with a tears running down her own face. The people that were left waited to see what she would do next. Arnold placed the head of his loved one in the hands of Sid and he then stood up straight, looked Rhonda dead in the eye. Sid began to wale loudly other students had already be crying but Sid finally let his feelings out.

"Why Rhonda? Why?"

"Because I was feeling alone." Rhonda turned the gun on herself, pointed it at her chest and pulled the trigger. Rhonda fell down in pain grabbing her shirt at the place she shot herself. Arnold, Herald and Curly ran to her body.

Everyone in the room came over to watch Rhonda die, some looked over her with hate, some with fear, some with sadness or confusion. Herald and Curly were sad and Arnold had no emotion showing. Rhonda had blood coming out of her mouth and she smiled. No anger, no evil just pure happiness had shown on her face.

"Rhonda, why would you do this?" Herald asked as her took her hand to hold it and the tears were running down his face.

"Be…ca..use… n…ow I…'m no…ti…ced."

She then took her last breath.

Arnold stood up from Rhonda's body to see the damage that had been done, seven bodies. Rhonda, Joey, Max, Joanne, Jonathan, Stinky and Helga were all dead. How could anything get better after this?

**Aftermath**

The next day was a memorial day for the deceased. In the morning was a ceremony like a funeral. Arnold noticed no one wanted to go up and say something for Rhonda. No one knew what he or she could say about her. The children then go the rest of the day off. The school created a plaque for the names of the students who died and buried it in the ground beside the football fields and the basketball court.

Arnold didn't see Sid for the rest of the week. Arnold thought for sure Sid would never look or speak to him ever again. Arnold wasn't scared of what Sid would do, but he was scared of losing a friendship with Arnold.

Arnold still didn't understand what happened, he didn't understand what he was feeling either. He didn't hate Rhonda, he didn't know how. He had known her to long to hate her. The more he thought about her the more he realized she had been alone for quite sometime. Nadine moved away almost three years ago to the other side of the country. She never ate lunch with anyone at school; she didn't go to Arnold's birthday party at the beginning of the year either.

Arnold now felt alone, he had Gerald but he lost his love. Helga was gone and he felt empty, he was so close but yet so far away. He couldn't sleep for quite a few days; he wouldn't even take showers because it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore.

On the Friday of that week was the funeral for Rhonda's death. Arnold didn't want to go, he wasn't sure if he could. But he found himself getting ready, dressing up in black, getting in the old Packard and driving to the church where it was being held.

There were not a lot of cars there; Arnold figured maybe most of them just walked. He was wrong there were only fifteen in the area including him surrounding the casket outside. Nadine wasn't there and neither were Rhonda's parents.

The ceremony started a Pastor came up to speak about the usual, how she lived a good life. "_Did she really, or do we just think she did. Maybe we're just joking ourselves, how do we know she was happy?_" Arnold was standing there sad for that fact that she died but angry for all that she had done before she died.

Now an older woman who looked like she was in her late eighties came up next to the Pastor. She however didn't move like a senior. She began to speak about the kindness Rhonda showed her everyday. Arnold picked up it must have been Rhonda's Grandma.

"_Where are Rhonda's parents?_" The service ended and Arnold decided he needed to look on her face once more before he left. He would not take his eyes off of the coffin that he was getting close to with every step.

Finally he was there, overlooking Rhonda. He felt numb just looking at her there, the make up they put on the dead bodies had been deceiving. He still was unsure on how he felt about this. Arnold felt sick so he turned to walk away when a hand stopped him.

"You must be one of Rhonda's friends?" It was Rhonda's Grandma.

"Yeah you could say that."

"Won't you come for the wake?"

Arnold wasn't sure, he had paid his respects was there more to be done? However he still had the lingering question "_Why did this even happen in the first place? What happened to Nadine? Where did her parents go? Why would she feel the need to give up?_" So many questioned race through his mind.

"Sure I'll come, what time and where?"

"Right now, actually young man could you give me a ride? I would like to know what Rhonda's friends are like."

"_She acts like Rhonda's still alive."_

"Okay."

Arnold walked with Rhonda's Grandmother to the Packard. On the way to her house she asked anything and everything about Arnold. From where he lived to what he was planning to do with her life. This was the first time since the shooting that Arnold felt at peace.

Arnold was expecting to pull into a big fancy mansion with maids and butlers waiting on your hand and foot. Instead Arnold found himself being directed to the rough side of town, near where Torvalt lived.

Unpleasant sounds from all around were being heard and it made Arnold uncomfortable to hear, especially with an older woman. He helped her out of the car, walked up the stairs to her townhouse, she unlocked the door and they then proceeded to walk inside her house.

"So when will the other quests arrive."

"Soon, very soon. Leave your shoes on dear, I'm sorry but the floor is not very clean."

Arnold helped the lady pull out two chairs. Helped her take some trays of sandwiches and finger food out of the fridge and then leave them on the counter. Arnold and Rhonda's Grandma grabbed each a plate and put some things on their plates and then went to sit down on the couch near the two chairs.

"I'm hoping my son and his wife will come, that's why I wanted the two chairs out. They were busy today so they couldn't make the funeral."

"Rhonda didn't live with her parents?"

"No Rhonda has been living with me for quite some time, since she was thirteen. I'm not surprised you don't know, Rhonda holds many things from me too."

"Why didn't she live with her parents if you don't mind me asking?"

Rhonda's Grandmother put her food down on her plate and rubbed her fingertips to brush off the crumbs. "Rhonda doesn't live with her parents because they wanted her to be properly cared for, her parents are always so busy. They would often times miss her birthdays." She looked down disappointed and shook her head.

Arnold understood her reply and statement, "_Her parents didn't pay attention to her, and they didn't want to spend time with her." _Arnold grew annoyed with this, "_Is that really why she killed herself and others?"_

"Rhonda never goes out, I often worry if she has friends. So I was glad to see you there today."

"_But I haven't even been a friend to her. I can't tell her Grandmother that though."_

"Didn't she have another friend though? Nadine?"

Rhonda's Grandmother faced turned from happiness to sadness. She shook her head and looked like she was going to cry.

"No unfortunately Rhonda hasn't seen Nadine in quite sometime, Nadine hasn't called her in a long time either. From what I've gathered from Rhonda, when Nadine moved she didn't make the time for Rhonda. I believe because Nadine is a young she made some poor choices with friends. Not that I'm judging, I think Nadine is probably a nice young girl."

Arnold understood what that meant. Although Rhonda's Grandma was trying to be as nice as possible but it didn't hide the fact that Nadine hasn't been there for Rhonda in years.

"_Because I was feeling alone."_ Arnold heard in his head, "It still didn't add up. Rhonda was supposed to be popular; she would never let anyone tell her what to do. But how would I feel if I were in her place? "_Because I was feeling alone_."

"_But why Rhonda? Why would you kill others and then yourself?"_

"Do you mind if I ask you one more question?" Rhonda's Grandmother took a sip of her tea and nodded her head.

"I do not mind at all, please ask."

"Had Rhonda been acting strange, lately?"

"Strange?"

"Out of the ordinary, did she speak of some kind of bullying or would she avoid you by spending time in her room. I'm sorry I know this is a personal question so if you don't answer that's fine."

"No it's okay dear. You are her friend so I suppose it's all right for you to know the answer. She doesn't speak much about school; she does sometimes speak of a girl named Patti and a boy named Herald. Something about them being together and it disturbed her."

"Did she say why?"

"Well I don't mean to be rude but it sounded like Rhonda and Patti used to be friends. But the boy Herald got in the picture and Patti became mean toward Rhonda. Rhonda really does like that boy."

"_Patti would bully Rhonda?"_

"But to answer your other questions well, since Rhonda came to live with me she's found it harder and harder to trust others. She's been shutting me out almost everyday a little more each time since a week ago. Last week sometime a girl named Helga came over, I hadn't seen anyone visit Rhonda in a long time…"

"_Helga came over?"_

"However it didn't go so well, I heard shouting and the girl left in a huff. When I asked Rhonda later what happened she told me the girl was trying to help something that was unavoidable."

"_Helga was just trying to help Rhonda. Is that why Rhonda killed Helga?"_

"But you know dear, Rhonda often times speaks highly of both you and Helga. She admires your strength and courage, she sees herself as a weak being. Rhonda doesn't even know her own strength. I think she maybe jealous of Helga in some ways."

"_Rhonda wouldn't kill Helga on purpose. I think she randomly shot, or maybe she did shot her purpose. Maybe her jealously took her over? However all this stuff proves Rhonda had been planning her suicide for about a week before."_

The rest of the night Arnold spent telling stories about himself in South America and different things. He asked a lot of questions to Rhonda's grandmother and received a lot of answers. Arnold had fun for the first time in a week.

The next day was Helga's funeral; Arnold wore the suit for a second day in a row. The church that held the funeral was the same one that held Dino Spumoni funeral when he faked his death.

Helga's funeral was packed with people, people she didn't know or like. Helga's father and mother both spoke at different times, their eyes were red and they both looked sick. Olga looked like she had been crying all week; she also went up to speak. The funeral was so painful for Arnold, he felt like he could barely breathe. He tried to take deep breaths in through the nose and breath out through his mouth.

The ceremony was over, he wasn't sure if he wanted to see Helga before she got buried but he decided he wanted to see her one last time. He went up in line with each step staring at the casket and not moving his eyes to see if any of his friends were there.

Then he was there, he saw Helga lying there peaceful in the coffin. The fake make up could hide the fact there was no presence. She was an empty capsule, Arnold felt sick again from looking at her like that. He felt like a failure, the day he finally could have her. She was taken away.

Arnold walked away and kept walking till he was outside, he needed some air. Olga was outside she was smoking a cigarette. She saw Arnold and simply dropped the stick and put it out with her foot.

"I didn't know you smoke." Olga was standing next to the railing of the ramp and leaning over, Arnold joined her.

"Me neither, I thought I quit a long time ago. But lately I've been so stressed I can't help it."

Arnold only nodded his head, neither one of them looked each other instead they looked out on the parking lot in front of them.

"I've lost her Arnold, the only thing that truly mattered to me." Olga began let soft tears run down her face.

"I know how you feel." Arnold tried hard to not cry again.

"I hate Rhonda, I'm glad she killed herself. My sister should've been able to live. How dare she chose the fate of others around her! Helga and I had a terrible week last week and Helga still tried to make an effort to go over to Rhonda's. She was only trying to be nice to Rhonda, trying to be a friend."

"What happened last week?"

Olga closed her mouth for a second, to think what to say. Her eyes began to produce new tears.

"Our grandparents on Mom's side died in a car accident."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry Olga."

"Don't worry about it. Once someone's dead you can't do anything about it. I just don't understand why I had to lose my sister too. Is the world really this cruel."

Arnold rapped his arms around Olga and she began to cry as Arnold held her. Arnold didn't talk to anyone at the wake. Wouldn't look at any of his friends or anything. But he did feel the need to say some words to Mr. and Mrs. Pataki.

"Sir, Ma'am. I think you've heard, 'I'm sorry for your loss too much today'. So I'm going to say something different. I loved your daughter and although I didn't know her as much as I wanted, I would've married her. You should be proud of the woman she became and who she was. I will miss her greatly. I'm thankful that I knew her, you should be proud for the daughters you have."

Big Bob and Miriam gave Arnold a group hug and they both thanked Arnold for his words. Arnold decided to call it a day so he grabbed his coat off of the coat rack and opened the front door.

"Arnold."

Arnold stopped in his tracks and turned around to see the person who called him, it was Sid. Sid didn't look angry, but rather sorrowful. He wasn't wearing his hat today so that said much.

"Can we talk?"

Arnold nodded and they both walked outside to sit on the porch steps. It was foggy outside and a while ago it was raining so it was a bit cool outside. They didn't say anything to each other for a bit. Sid was the first to break the silence.

"Arnold I would first like to apologize."

"You don't have to Sid."

"But I want to, so let me finish."

Arnold nodded his head.

"When I yelled at you the morning of, well you know. I didn't let you explain yourself, I've been jealous of you."

"_You think?"_

"So when I saw you sitting with Rhonda, well I thought you were trying to make a move on her. In doing so you would've hurt Helga and I got mad.

"_That's right, I forgot Sid was on our bus."_

"Can you forgive me for assuming the worst?"

"Yeah of course Sid, I haven't even let that incident cross my mind since…" Arnold's words trailed off, he closed his mouth and so did Sid. They both looked in the opposite direction of one another.

"Well in any case I've been wondering, what were you and Rhonda talking about?"

"I wanted to see how she was doing. I've now realized anyone of us could've stopped this from happening."

"Are you saying this is our fault?"

"No because everyone handles things differently, but you saw Rhonda she was always alone. None of us reached out to help her months or years ago. I learned from someone Helga tried to go over to Rhonda's last week to help her. Rhonda probably told her it's too late. Why did none of us try to help her?"

"I think because we all got so caught up in our own problems we didn't even care for someone else's."

"While I was in South America, did you notice a change in her?"

Sid froze and Arnold knew that meant Sid felt guilty and was ashamed to answer. "We all did, in fact we would make comments to how things change. But none of us did anything about it, some times we even made jokes which makes me sick to think about now."

"Sid, you're not the only one to blame, I also noticed how different Rhonda was and didn't do anything about it until the day of. Why were we all so blind?"

"_I don't believe Rhonda Wellington Lloyd was right in what she did. She was wrong to murder and wrong to kill herself. But if we reach a hand out to her would she have taken it, would she have let us walk with her. If any of us spent more time with her, asked her everyday how she was doing would all those kids she killed and she be alive today?_

_I want to blame myself but I should because that was her choice but even so. Would I have taken Helga to Prom? Would Rhonda be a friend to Helga? Why didn't I do something more when I had the chance?"_

**Writers Note:**

**Okay guys that's it, no seriously that's it. I know some of you maybe mad at the fact I killed a bunch of people especially Helga. But I wrote this for a reason, I had the idea for this story based off the song Pumped Up Kicks by: Foster The People. If you haven't listened to that song before go do so. The song is actually based off a real life school shooting that happened.**

**I also got so inspiration from the shooting that happened in the movie theater at the Batman 3 premier. ****Rip to those who died in all different cases like these.**** I am actually not a fan of dark type stories. I only read one and although it was interesting to read it was kind of creepy. I love happy endings so this type of story is very different for me.**

**While I was writing this, I even got a few ideas on how to end this story with a slightly good ending. I got ideas for a few different ways but as odd as it sounds it is suppose to end sad.**

**The whole point of this story is to not make you hate the story or be mad but to understand a few things. One I want you to think about everyone around you, people that pass you everyday and people you ignore. Everyone you see, now think about how everyone has feelings. In our society we downgrade peoples feeling all the time.**

**We need to stop this; all that's doing is bottling everything up and saving the explosion for later. Everyone handles things differently, did you notice in this story I gave Rhonda a type of rejection from her parents peers around her and such. I did that so she would have some related problems with Helga to show how one apposed to the other would handle those different things. Helga would be rude, loud and physical. Whereas Rhonda would be quiet, push others away, keep things hidden and ultimately kill a whole bunch of people.**

**Anyone around you at all times has the potential to kill someone. Not that they would, while one person might consider suicide and/or murder another might do drugs or drink alcohol. Although Rhonda had slightly different rejection from Helga they both have similar rejection. We can't assume everyone is okay because we honest don't know.**

**One person we can look at and say they look fine but actual reality they're dying inside. We need to take peoples feelings and reactions seriously. Now although we can't change what people do, that's their choice but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful.**

**Our world is so perverted now days that things that were never heard of ten years ago, are now spewed all over the Internet in an hour of posting. We need to realize that teen suicide, pregnancies, drugs, alcohol etc is on the rise and we need to do something about this. Our world is going down hill and I'm sick of it, are you?**

**By the way this is my first story (officially) done, so please be light on the reviews.**


End file.
